By Staff
Athletic Management, 12.3, April/May 2000, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1203/bbprimetime.htm
For many athletic teams, there is a long tradition behind when games are played. Whether it’s football on Friday nights or softball games in the afternoon, coaches tend to like the consistency.
Recently, however, players, fans, and administrators are noticing that inequalities often exist within these traditions. When a men’s team routinely plays on a date and in a time conducive to attracting spectators, and a comparable women’s team does not, the women’s team may be getting short shrift.
For example, at first glance, having high school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams play on separate nights seems innocuous. But preventing girls from playing on Friday nights can, in fact, be a violation of Title IX as the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference (PVIAC) in Massachusetts discovered last year.
“Within our league, we were playing the girls’ games at night on Mondays and Thursdays,” says Jim Peters, Principal at Monson High School and 1999-2000 Chair for the PVIAC, “and we were playing our boys’ games at night on Tuesdays and Fridays.”
Due to a parent’s complaint, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigated and found the conference’s scheduling was not in total compliance with Title IX. It determined that by limiting girls to Mondays and Thursdays, schools in the PVIAC were reserving “primetime” games (i.e., Fridays) for boys only. In order to remedy the situation, the PVIAC revamped the 1999-2000 schedule so that both boys’ and girls’ teams played on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Peters says that, until the complaint was filed, he did not know about the primetime rule. “I think that Friday is considered more primetime because it’s not a school night, and it’s typically not a work night, so more people might be interested in going to a game,” he says. “And, if you’re the away team, it’s not affecting homework or the need to get up early the next morning for school. To a degree, I can sympathize with the parent who complained.”
It’s not just the day of the week that male and female athletes play that’s an issue; primetime also applies to the times of the contests. For example, it is not uncommon to schedule boys’ and girls’ basketball for the same night, having the girls play at 6:30 and the boys play at 8 pm. If this was the scheduling for all games, the program doing so would be in violation of Title IX.
The reasoning goes like this: Because the 6:30 start conflicts with most families’ dinner time, attracting fans to the games is more difficult. This can also result in lower concession revenues, which is often a portion of the team’s fund-raising. And some of the coaching and game strategies may be compromised—such as stalling as a tactic—when the coach feels pressure to end the game before 8 pm.
The Howard County Public School System, in Maryland, has also been dealing with this issue in the process of settling an OCR complaint that covered many areas. As part of the larger settlement, the athletic department agreed to make changes in the scheduling of boys’ and girls’ athletic contests.
“It was decided between the OCR and our district that from 5 p.m. Friday through 5 p.m. Saturday would be primetime,” says Don Disney, Coordinator of Athletics for the district.
However, because none of the schools in the district have access to lighted stadiums in the fall, the scheduling became more difficult. Football stayed in its usual Saturday slot, but when Disney approached the coaches of the girls’ teams, he found that many did not want to move their games to Saturday due to the interference it would cause with club sports.
“We had to figure out a way to even out access to the primetime,” Disney says. “And we finally realized our best tool was our girls’ volleyball program. Now, many volleyball games are scheduled on Friday nights, during the primetime period, which has worked out well.”
In the winter season, Disney schedules boys’ and girls’ basketball games on Friday nights, but at opposite venues. “Our program is developmental, so the j.v. always plays first, and the two varsity teams play at identical times,” he explains.
Since his schools do not have lighted baseball or softball fields, both of these teams have always played afternoon contests, thus there were no primetime scheduling problems. “But, we do have one lacrosse field that has lights,” says Disney, “so if we play night lacrosse, we have to have the same number of boys’ games as girls’ games in primetime.”
While most of the Title IX complaints related to primetime have been at the high school level, colleges and universities are also working on the issue. In the University Athletic Association (UAA), which consists of NCAA Division III schools, administrators and coaches have been experimenting with several scheduling options in order to make players’ experiences more equitable. For this conference, the changes were voluntary.
In basketball, UAA teams have traditionally played men’s and women’s doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday nights with the women playing first. Their solution? “On Fridays, the women play the first game and the men play the second game,” says Richard Rasmussen, Executive Secretary of the UAA. “On Sundays, the men play the first game and the women play the second game.”
For the soccer teams, which normally play Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the conference came up with a different plan. “Like basketball, our men’s and women’s soccer teams travel together,” explains Rasmussen. “One year, the women’s teams will play the first game and the men the second, and the following year, the men will play the first game and the women the second.
“We had a trial period for a couple of seasons,” he continues. “We consulted with student-athletes from all the teams and asked them for feedback. From that, we settled on what we have now, which will be in effect until the 2001-2002 season. During that season, we’ll take a look at it again.”
Because the UAA has been proactive on the issue, and involved coaches and student-athletes in the decision-making process, the changes have gone smoothly. Administrators at other schools, however, have had some backlash to their schedule changes.
For example, after practice times were changed in Howard County so that the girls’ basketball teams alternate with the boys’ teams (the girls practice after school for two weeks, then have the evening practice the following two weeks, and vice versa), Disney received some negative feedback. “We’ve had some parents complain because they don’t want the girls practicing at night,” he says. He’s also had some complaints from coaches who need to schedule childcare coverage during practice times—a task which is made more difficult when the schedule changes every two weeks.
In the PVIAC, where boys and girls are now competing on the same night, Peters is also dealing with some negative comments. The two major complaints are that parents who have athletes on both teams are not able to watch all of their children play and that the two teams cannot attend each other’s contests.
Peters thinks that a compromise is possible and he will propose it for next year. “I am going to recommend that for half the season, the boys play Monday-Thursday, and the girls play Tuesday-Friday,” he explains. “Then, we’ll have them flip-flop. If we do that across the conference, everyone will have 10 nights of Monday-Thursday basketball and 10 nights of Tuesday-Friday basketball.”
Despite the new complications that have resulted from some of these changes, administrators say they are pleased with the benefits that have ultimately been reaped. They are seeing larger crowds for the female teams, and, most importantly, female athletes are getting the message that they are every bit as important as male athletes. “I would say that we’re a better program,” says Disney, “because of the OCR complaint.”
What motivates a parent to file a Title IX complaint? Check out our Q&A with Herb Dempsey, a father of four daughters, who has filed several such complaints in the Pacific Northwest, at: www.athleticsearch.com.